Can a libel action be brought against a journalist for publishing defamatory statements about another person?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Mann v. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 2012 BCSC 181 (CanLII):
A person’s motive for publishing defamatory statements can only be inferred from what that person said, did or knew. In Horrocks v. Lowe, [1975] A.C. 135 at 149-150 (H.L.) [Horrocks], Lord Diplock stated: If it be proved that he did not believe that what he published was true this is generally conclusive evidence of express malice, for no sense of duty or desire to protect his own legitimate interests can justify a man in telling deliberate and injurious falsehoods about another, save in the exceptional case where a person may be under a duty to pass on, without endorsing, defamatory reports made by some other person.
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